PORTSMOUTH, Va. - Community members in Portsmouth have some questions. “Why is it that they are attacking our leaders?”
The questions come after Sen. L. Louise Lucas and 13 others were charged with felonies by the Portsmouth police department.
Sen. Lucas' warrant can be viewed here.
“Senator Lucas is one of the best gifts given to Portsmouth,” said a member of the Martin Luther King Jr. Leadership Steering Committee. The organization hosted the press conference outside the judicial center.
Portsmouth Vice-Mayor Lisa Lucas-Burke says her mother is in good spirits.
“She is getting support all across the commonwealth and here in Portsmouth,” she adds.
Standing behind speakers were some of the people who are also facing charges for their involvement of the destruction of the monument back in June.
NAACP leaders James Boyd and Louie Gibbs, Portsmouth school board member LaKeesha Atkinson and public defender Brenda Spry.
Some people are asking, “Why now?” They want to know who gave the police chief the “ok”.
In an email to city council, city manager Dr. L. Pettis Patton says:
“I'm sending this email to make the record clear and complete. No decisions on this investigation or any other matters relating to the Confederate monument came to my attention before August 17, 2020.”
Dr. Rev. Milton Blount is demanding for action to be taken. “We are calling on the city manager Dr. Lydia Patton to request the immediate resignation of Chief Angela Greene.”
Leaders say if Dr. Patton doesn’t do it before she retires in December the next city manager will.
“Day one of the new city manager if we don’t fire Angela Greene by then that’s the first order of business that I want the city manager to take care of,” said Lucas-Burke.
Community leaders also want the commonwealth attorney Stephanie Morales to drop all of the charges.
“To do all she can do to use her influence to throw all of these arrests out so it does not see the light of day in any court room,” adds Rev. Blount.
The first court date for people facing charges is on September 4, 2020 for an arraignment.
